Injury puts star batter’s availability for England tour in doubt, selectors set to pick two squads

Former India Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is set to miss the England tour in July this year. He has sustained a Grade Three hamstring injury which rules him out of the tour, even though one and a half months are left in the tour. Rahane sustained the injury while batting during the Kolkata vs Hyderabad last week. Rahane is set to leave the bio-bubble of the Kolkata team on May 16 evening and will not take any further part in the tournament.

The England tour will start with the one-off Test which was postponed last year due to COVID19 in the touring camp. The match will be part of the five-match series played in August and September last year, which the Indian team is leading  2-1. Meanwhile, the Mumbai-born player will report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore to undergo recovery, according to the report on Cricbuzz.

The right-hander has had a forgettable season of Indian T20 League, with only 133 runs in seven games. To be noted, his abysmal performance led him to be dropped from the playing XI. He recently made his comeback after other players started failing in the top order as well. His injury isn’t too much of a concern as he was dropped from the test team in February this year.

Meanwhile, the national selection committee of the BCCI, which is led by Chetan Sharma, will be picking two different squads for the five-match T20I series against South Africa at home and the UK tour. According to the earlier reports, a lot of senior players will be rested for South Africa and Ireland series to keep them fresh for the England series.

For the unversed, the Men In Blue will head to Ireland for the two-match T20I series late in June. Both South Africa and Ireland series will see a lot of fresh faces who have done well in the domestic cricket and the Indian T20 League over the years.